The present invention relates to the preparation of livestock for slaughter, and more particularly to the preparation of poultry for slaughter.
The slaughter of poultry is necessary to obtain poultry meat for consumption by humans. The process begins with transportation of the poultry to the slaughterhouse. This typically involves removal of the birds from a transport cage upon arrival at the slaughterhouse. The removal of the birds from the cages involves a struggle by the birds and is a difficult and dirty task. The process also often involves shackling of the poultry. However, poultry in their normal state severely resist such restriction, thereby making it difficult for a worker to shackle the birds and making the environment undesirable due to dust and feather debris being scattered throughout the air. Furthermore, during the struggle, the meaty tissue of the poultry can become bruised or bones may be broken, making it less than ideal to providing to the consuming public.
Various approaches have been taken to remedy the problem of poultry resisting restriction. One such approach uses electricity to stun the bird after it has been shackled. Different levels of current and different frequencies have been used in an attempt to reduce bruising and bone breakage, but these procedures have been largely unsuccessful. This approach is undesirable for at least two reasons. First, electric shock can cause bruising and clotting, leaving blood spots in the meaty tissue. Second, the electric shock causes trauma to the poultry which is unpleasant to the bird and should be avoided if possible.
Another approach uses gases to stun and kill the poultry before being shackled. The killing of poultry by using a gaseous environment of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and/or argon is not desirous because it results in tough meat. Plus, exposure to a high concentration of gas can be very traumatic to the poultry as many gasses act as a suffocant (as opposed to an anesthetic).
Furthermore, most systems for transportation of poultry involve manual labor for loading and unloading the birds into cages or other compartments. Many of these cages or compartments only hold two or a few birds, which causes added tension to in birds making them even harder to handle as they are calmer in larger groups. Therefore, there is a need for a process and apparatus for preparing poultry for slaughter that is less labor intensive, causes little trauma to the birds, and results in a good meat product.